Are We Forgetting Ourselves? A Thought on Tech, Memory & AI
Do you remember the phone numbers of your close friends and family from the 90s?
I do.
Back then, we memorised 10 or 15 numbers easily. We knew the route to our uncle’s house, the local ration shop, or even a hospital — all by heart. Memory wasn’t stored somewhere — it lived inside us.
But today? Even if we travel to the same place every day, we still check Google Maps.
We don’t remember numbers.
We don’t remember directions.
We depend.
So, is this good or bad?
It’s not a simple question. Like most things in life, it’s somewhere in between.
👨💼 What Sundar Pichai Said: From Memory to Meaning
In a recent interview, Google CEO Sundar Pichai shared something insightful.
He spoke about how education must evolve. He said:
“The focus should not be on remembering dates, but understanding their meaning.”
It’s true. Instead of memorizing a history date like 1857, what really matters is understanding why something like the Indian Rebellion happened and what it teaches us today.
Sundar also spoke about AI in our work. He said tools like Gemini are not here to replace people, but to support us. Whether you’re a student, a programmer, or a creator — the goal is to let AI handle the routine, so you can focus on thinking and creating.
📚 What Sapiens Tells Us About Humans
This reminded me of something Yuval Noah Harari wrote in Sapiens.
Humans are different from all other species — not because we’re the strongest, but because we’re the most adaptable.
- A tiger cannot suddenly decide to become vegetarian. But a human can.
- We made stone knives. Then we made missiles.
- We can imagine, lie, collaborate, and believe in shared stories — like nations, money, religion, and law.
That’s how Homo sapiens survived, while stronger species like Neanderthals vanished.
We didn’t just evolve — we adjusted. That’s our superpower.
Now, we are doing something similar — outsourcing memory, logic, and even decisions to AI.
🎥 From Cast Away to Cloud Servers
Remember the movie Cast Away?
Tom Hanks, alone on an island, learns to survive without any help — no phone, no internet, no maps.
It feels extreme, but it makes us think:
Could we survive like that today?
Would we know how to find water? Or even know where the sun sets without checking an app?
We’re smart… but we’re also becoming soft.
🎭 What Carl Elias Said Before His End
Here’s where it gets personal.
In the series Person of Interest, a man named Carl Elias lived between two worlds — human loyalty and machine domination. Surrounded by powerful AI like Samaritan, Elias knew he was part of a bigger game.
In one quiet moment, near the end of his journey, he simply says:
“I stayed. I fought. I won.”
Not because he had better tech.
Not because he was the hero.
But because he never gave up being human — even in a world slowly controlled by machines.
That line stays with me.
Because it’s not just about survival… it’s about how we survive.
🤖 The Balance Between Brain and Button
So, what’s the takeaway?
Use AI. Embrace tools. But don’t forget to test your own mind once in a while.
Like Sundar Pichai said:
“Even with AI tools, you must occasionally test your fundamentals.”
Like Harari said:
“Humans can choose. And change.”
And like Elias reminded us:
“Stay. Fight. Win.”
🧠 Final Thought: Stay Human
So maybe…
- Try remembering a few phone numbers again.
- Take a route without checking GPS.
- Read something slowly instead of scanning it fast.
- Cook a dish without watching YouTube.
Just to remind yourself — you’re still capable.
Because in a world where machines are getting smarter, our real strength will come from staying aware, staying curious, and above all…
Stay curious.
Stay aware.
Stay human.
